Bounce
by ILETUDRIVE
Summary: A short little story that would have been amusing, if it had happened after Jason and Elizabeth shared that first kiss in June. Give it a try, it better than this awful summary. Features Jason, Elizabeth, and various others. Conclusion added. Complete
1. Default Chapter

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Stephanie's Notes: This short little fic was inspired by a challenge on another board. It's a light read, and if I make you laugh at least once, my job is complete. This is set right after Jason and Elizabeth shared their first kiss in June. Nothing that has happened on the show since then, has occurred in this story. So come on in and give it a whirl, you may like it.

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Disclaimer: I own nothing, quite literally nothing. So you can't sue.

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Distribution: If you'd like it, ask first I'll more then likely say yes.

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Begging: Please leave me a reply.

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Bounce

~Hell~

If she were the type of person who believed in past lives, she was now convinced she must have been some crazed killer in a previous life. It was the only explanation that could rationally explain all the truly awful things that had happened to her in her current life.

Elizabeth Webber shook her head banishing the fanciful thoughts. She didn't believe in reincarnation, she did believe in luck, however all of her luck seemed to be bad. The old saying of if you didn't have bad luck you would have none at all definitely seemed to apply in her case.

"Get a grip," she muttered under her breath and had to stifle a scream when the man next to her shifted suddenly, his head coming to rest on her shoulder. Frowning at the intrusion and violation of her personal space she jerked her shoulder trying to move the head. But the man was heavy-headed and oblivious, he merely kept snoring and stayed where he was.

The last thing she wanted to do was wake him. If she woke him she would have to talk to him and that was something she never, ever wanted to do again. But his snoring, not to mention his breath was about to gag her. Making sure to breathe through her nose, she took a deep breath and jerked her shoulder hard. The man jolted, gave a loud snort, and Elizabeth held her breath until he shifted his head in the other direction and kept snoring.

"Now that's attractive," she muttered when drool started coming out of his mouth. Quietly she shifted as far from her dead to the world companion as she could and went back to her brooding. She was determined to figure out why her life sucked. All she had to do was figure out which deity she had pissed off enough that they felt the need to punish her … repeatedly. 

Drumming her perfectly manicured and painted fingernails on her hose clad thigh she pondered the question. Looking around the noisy room she realized that she had picked an odd place to have a life altering realization, but this was where she was, and it didn't appear that she would be leaving anytime soon anyway, so she might as well pass the time doing something constructive.

Momentarily distracted by the screams and curses coming from her left, Elizabeth shifted again and crossed her legs, bringing the already too small miniskirt up to a dangerously high level. "You want to put your eyes back in your head?" She asked the drunk sitting across from her.

The man's blood shot eyes never left her legs. "Nope."

Rolling her eyes she shifted again and prepared to rip into the pervert, before she could speak something, or rather someone over the drunk's shoulder caught her eye. "Shit," she squeaked and slumped down in her seat trying to hide behind the drunk. "Please don't let that be him."

Keeping her eyes tightly closed, she wrapped the blanket closer around her and whispered every prayer she knew and a few she made up on the fly, all in an attempt to banish her worst nightmare from the room.

Taking a chance she opened her eyes and peeped over the drunk's shoulder. Groaning she buried her head again, she would know that ass anywhere. It was him. It was now official, she must have been a murderer in a past life.

Elizabeth slouched again trying to make her already petite frame even smaller, all in attempt to avoid detection, from the one person who could turn an already bad night into a truly horrid one. If she was quiet there was no reason that he should even know that she was here. All she had to do was not make any noise.

So she was just going to hide here, until he was gone, nope she wasn't going to say a word…

"Pervert!" Elizabeth screeched suddenly and slapped the drunk across from her when she felt his hand on her leg. "Keep your hands off me."

Belatedly remembering her vow to be quiet, Elizabeth closed her eyes and hunched over her now drawn up knees. She was busted and she knew it. Even with her eyes closed she knew the instant his eyes came to rest on her. And although she knew it was useless Elizabeth couldn't help but whisper a few last ditch prayers, asking for a hole to open in the floor and swallow her whole.

"Elizabeth?"

Unfortunately it seemed she was doomed to disappointment.

"Elizabeth are you hurt?"

From the sound placement of his voice it seemed that he was now crouching in front of her. "Mmm-mmph."

"What?"

"I said I'm fine Jason," Elizabeth's words were muffled because she kept her face firmly in her knees.

"Elizabeth look at me," Jason Morgan spoke after a few seconds of staring at her head. How was he supposed to find out if she was really okay if she wouldn't look at him?

Elizabeth merely shook her head, the scratchy blanket itched her nose, but she refused to lift her head. Not looking into those eyes of his was a good thing at the moment.

Confused Jason glanced around them trying to find an explanation before focusing on the woman in front of him again. "Why not?"

"I can't it's too embarrassing," she muttered finally.

Settling more on the balls of his feet Jason took a breath, he had a feeling this was going to be a long conversation. As such he'd better make himself comfortable. "Looking at me is embarrassing?"

"Yes," a nod of her head. "I mean No," a shake of the head followed by a muffled sneeze. "God Jason just go and pretend you never saw me."

"You know I'm not going to do that," he replied shortly. He was fast getting tired of talking to the top of her head. But it didn't seem like she was willing to look at him.

The man asleep on the bench next to her chose that moment to snort and shift again, this time he crashed heavily on Elizabeth.

Startled her head flew up and turned slightly to look at the man next to her. Before she had the time to retreat into her shell again, Jason moved quickly. He shifted the dead to the world snorer to the end of the bench and took the vacant space next to Elizabeth. The hardwood bench was small, and the left half of his body was pressed firmly against her right half. He couldn't help but notice how nice that felt.

Her eyes met his and for a moment all she could do was stare. She still wasn't used to seeing him, he had been gone so long, it was strange to see him walk in a room like it was the most natural thing in the world. She especially wasn't used to being this close to him. Hell she hadn't even gone riding with him since he had returned. Her eyes dropped to his lips that were pursed in a slight frown. She now knew just how soft and strong those lips of his were. Not to mention how talented. Realizing she was staring and perilously afraid that she would start drooling like her sleeping companion she turned away to bury her face in her knees again.

Jason had tried to read the rush of emotions that had went through Elizabeth's eyes while she looked at him, but her eyes themselves had quickly distracted him. "Do you want to tell me what you're doing here?"

"Not really."

Sighing wearily Jason barely resisted the impulse to force Elizabeth to look at him. "Elizabeth you are sitting in the squad room of the County Jail, wearing, as near as I can tell, a miniskirt and a blanket, I'm not leaving until I know what happened to you."

Sometimes she hated to be right, this was one of those times. Why couldn't he be the monster the whole world seemed to think he was and just walk out and leave her, just this once anyway? But if he did do that he wouldn't be Jason, and she couldn't have him both ways, hell she couldn't seem to have him in any way. Focusing on her feet she tried to figure out how little she could tell him and get away with it. She really needed to take the red off her toenails, it was visible even through the black hose, and that wasn't exactly attractive.

"Please talk to me," Jason requested softly. He knew she had been avoiding him since that night he had found her at Kelly's, the night they had kissed and almost done so much more. But he hated to think that she wouldn't talk to him when she was obviously in trouble.

"It's not my fault," Elizabeth said suddenly.

"What's not your fault?"

Tired of hiding she sat up. "It's Bounce's fault."

Scrubbing at his eyes Jason tried to clear his mind. "Your at the jail because of a fabric softener?"

"No," she rolled her eyes and gestured to her right. "He's Bounce," she pointed to the sleeper beside Jason. "It's his fault I'm here. Wait you do laundry?" Momentarily distracted from her woes her eyes raked over his casual outfit of jeans and a T-shirt. "I guess you would, I mean I doubt you have much use for a dry cleaner. I guess I never really thought about you doing laundry though…"

"Elizabeth," Jason all but growled her name.

"Jeez chill Jason, laundry and you has never occurred to me before, I mean I know I washed your shirts when you stayed with me that winter, but other then that…" she trailed off when she saw his expression. "Not interested in laundry are you?"

"Not really no."

"Okay," Elizabeth shifted carefully and focused on the drunk who was still staring at her legs. She barely restrained herself from sticking her tongue out at him, when he winked at her.

"Elizabeth why are you here?" Jason tried again.

"I told you it's because of Bounce."

Jason decided to go along with her this time. "His name is Bounce?"

"Of course not, that's not his name, it's what he is," Elizabeth explained. "In fact if I break this all the way down to the core, it's your fault that I'm here."

At one time he thought only Carly could give him a headache, but Elizabeth was coming awfully close. "What's my fault?"

"It's true. You were very close to being the Bounce. It's only because I realized that and stopped things, that you weren't the Bounce. So if you think about it this is all your fault." Crossing her arms she shot him a glare. "I don't really appreciate it either." Turning her head she glared at the drunk again. "You touch my leg one more time and I'm going to kick you into next week you hear me?"

"Nope," the drunk shot back.

Moving quickly Jason put a hand on her knee before she could make good on her threat. "Move," he ordered the drunk with a hard look.

The drunk held up his shackled wrist. "Nope."

"Pervert," Elizabeth muttered. Her next words dried up when Jason shifted his glance to her. She hadn't quite seen that expression of his directed at her before. It was very unnerving. "W-what?"

"Bounce, jail, my fault? Answers." He ordered.

Letting go of her mangled bottom lip she realized she had stalled as long as she could. "A Bounce is someone you date after getting out of a really heavy relationship. They're the rebound, the transition guy so to speak. The Bounce. You go out the guy once or twice, maybe more, it's nothing serious, he helps you get past the hurt from the relationship." She could see the confusion in his light eyes and went on. "Most people when it's a bad breakup don't exactly have their head on straight right away. So it can be bad to get involved with someone they really care about right away. It's easier with a Bounce first." At least that was what all the magazines said. Granted this was her first Bounce attempt, and she had a feeling it would be her last one as well.

Jason shook his head trying to make sense of her words. "So you're going out with this guy on the rebound because of Lucky?"

"No," insulted she glared at him. "I mean sort of yes that's true, but Lucky isn't the only reason I needed to go out with him. The real reason is because of you."

"Me? I told you if you changed your mind to call me," Jason reminded her.

"God Jason didn't you hear me?" Infuriated she began to mutter under her breath.

"You just said it was my fault, that I would have been your Bounce guy if you hadn't stopped things. Elizabeth we were close to sleeping together that night." Jason reminded her.

"I know that. Don't you think I realize that?" The more agitated she became the more she said. "That's why I needed to go out with him. I care too much about you to let you be a Bounce. And I'm not in the right frame of mind to start a new relationship yet, and that's what you would be. No lasting relationship ever comes out of a rebound relationship. I couldn't risk losing everything that might one day exist between us, because I jumped you for all the wrong reasons. That's why there needed to be someone in between, someone that I could deal with the hurt that Lucky caused me, and put it behind me before I started something new with anyone."

An awful thought occurred to Jason and his voice and eyes turned ice cold. "So you went out with this guy just so you could sleep with him?"

Elizabeth merely reacted, shoving hard at his chest she pushed him off the bench. "You don't sleep with Bounce's or at least I wouldn't just sleep with him, just because I was messed in the head over ending a relationship. It would take something pretty earth shattering, like a life or death experience for me to just fall in bed with some guy that I had no real relationship with. Jesus I thought you knew that about me."

Blinking angrily at the tears that were stinging the back of her eyes she focused hard at the jail cell to her left. They were beginning to attract a lot of attention and she couldn't care less. 

Dropping warily on the bench next to her he could see the anger coming off of her, but more then that he could see the hurt as well. "I'm sorry Elizabeth, I shouldn't have said that."

Sighing tiredly she kept her focus on the cell. "It's okay I guess I should have expected the question. I did a pretty good job of jumping on you the other night, so why wouldn't you think that about me?"

Jason reached over, caught her chin, and gently but forcibly he turned her head until he could see her eyes. "I don't think that about you. I know who you are Elizabeth, and more importantly I know who you aren't."

"Then why…"

"I guess I was jealous," he admitted quietly and saw her eyes widen in disbelief. Shifting his hold on her face his thumb rubbed the soft skin of her jaw line. "I hated to think of you with someone else. It was hard enough when I saw you with Lucky. But I could handle that because you said you loved him, but this guy," his eyes darkened. "I wouldn't handle that very well Elizabeth."

Swallowing hard, she knew she should say something, but she was, for the first time in her life, speechless.

Jason shifted closer still, drawn by the invitation in her eyes. He brought his other hand up to cup her face and tilted her head back slightly. Moving closer he watched her gaze lower to his lips, before her eyes drifted closer. He could feel her soft breath on his face, and touched his lips lightly to hers.

"All right now break it up."

The order came from directly behind them, startled, and surprised at being caught off guard, Jason shifted to look, keeping most of his body in front of Elizabeth shielding her. His guard stayed up when he saw the officer standing there, tapping a nightstick in her oversized hand.

"Move," the officer ordered with her nightstick, shoving it in his shoulder for emphasis. "Now."

Jason shifted slightly and began to figure out in his head where he could find Alexis to come and bail him out. He jolted in surprise when the officer reached past him to Elizabeth.

"I gotta hand it to you, you got some stones there princess," the officer informed Elizabeth while reaching out to unlock the handcuff on her left wrist. 

Elizabeth shifted guiltily when she saw Jason's eyes widen in surprise. She had been hoping he wouldn't find out that she was handcuffed or even worse arrested.

"Time to go," the guard yanked her up from the bench, caught off guard the blanket Elizabeth was holding slipped from her grasp, leaving her standing there in a black bra, and a miniskirt.

"Where the hell are you taking her?" Jason demanded shooting to his feet.

"Processing, you want to join her?" The officer looked up at him. Taking him into custody would be a lot more fun then the pipsqueak.

"Jason I'll be fine, just go," Elizabeth spoke up and gestured with her free hand. "This is all a misunderstanding and I'll take care of it." She stumbled when the guard gave a tug on her arm sending her in motion.

"You don't have to do that." Jason snapped. "What the hell is she being arrested for?"

"You oughta know hotshot, from the looks of it she was practicing her trade on you right here in the squad room," the woman officer shot back.

Groaning Elizabeth looked around desperately for that hole to fall into, when she didn't see it she closed her eyes in defeat. They flew open immediately and she let out a screech when she felt a hand on her ass. Pushed past her breaking point Elizabeth merely reacted, whirling around and slugging the drunk just like Jason had taught her a few years before. The officer stumbled at her sudden movement and would have crashed into Elizabeth if Jason hadn't steadied her.

"Well what do you know we have something else to charge the princess with," the officer announced, grabbing Elizabeth's free hand and twisting it behind her back causing Elizabeth to yelp in pain, until she closed the open cuff on Elizabeth's wrist.

Turning her head to look back at Jason, Elizabeth bravely shot him a smile. "Don't worry I'll clear all of this up you go on home." 

Shaking his head he began to follow her. "What are you being arrested for?"

"It's nothing. Go on Jason. Leave now." There were some humiliations that were best kept private.

"What's she being arrested for?" This time Jason addressed the officer.

"What? You mean you don't know?" The officer smiled widely. "Solicitation." She saw Jason's eyes widen in disbelief. "Didn't you know your friend is a hooker?"

That was the precise moment that Elizabeth realized that instead of a mere killer in that past life she must have been Hitler. There was no other explanation. 


	2. Conclusion

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Author's Note: It doesn't seem that anybody was very interested in this fic, but for those that are, here is the conclusion.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters I merely abuse them.

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Distribution: Ask first, I'll more than likely say yes.

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Begging: Is it that hard to let me know what you thought?

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Bounce

Conclusion

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~Sheriff's Department~

Elizabeth Webber stopped on the steps of the Police Station and took a deep breath. She'd only been inside the station for about 6 hours, yet she would swear air had never smelled so sweet. Taking another breath she couldn't help but gasp as the fish smell from the nearby cannery drifted in. Okay so maybe the air didn't smell so sweet, but the air was definitely fresher than the drunk tank.

"Thanks again Alexis," Elizabeth called to the disappearing brunette. Alexis waved and fell back in her seat when the cab she was in took off with a lurch.

Tugging absently at the too short T-shirt that Jason had somehow unearthed for her, she gradually became aware of the gaze of her companion on the steps. Turning slowly, her eyes found him easily enough. Jason was leaning against the old granite railing that bordered the steps she was standing on. Even in the dimly lit entryway she could see the amusement in his light eyes.

"Don't say it," she ordered turning away before she gave into temptation and smiled herself.

"Say what?" Jason asked.

"Anything," tugging on the shirt again, she shook her head at the giant shining big red heart that covered the pink shirt. Where had Jason found this shirt? She eyed his bike that was parked across the street a little warily, he didn't travel around with hot pink, hearted shirts did he? Well he did do laundry, she reminded herself with a smirk, maybe he had a clothes fetish.

"What's so funny?"

Elizabeth sobered instantly. "Nothing, I'm just glad to be outside."

Jason moved closer. "So you're not mad that I stayed around?"

Brushing some of the dirt off the top step Elizabeth settled down on it. She had decided she would rather have this discussion here rather then back at her studio, which was no doubt where he was going to drop her off and hit the door in a haste to get rid of her. "To be perfectly honest, I knew the moment you saw me, that you wouldn't be leaving until I did," she shot him a look through her lowered lashes when he settled in beside her on the step. "No matter how much I begged, pleaded, ordered, you to leave, I knew you wouldn't."

"Why were you so adamant about wanting me gone?"

"I don't know," she couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Could it be the solicitation charge I was facing?"

"But you didn't do that, I knew that before you even told me," Jason reminded her.

"It's still embarrassing. This whole night has got to be one of the most humiliating nights of my life," she couldn't help but frown in remembering another humiliating night. Her aborted wedding to Lucky … at least tonight wasn't as public. So far only Alexis and Jason knew what had happened. Alexis was bound by confidentiality to not say anything, and she knew without saying a word that Jason would never tell anyone what had happened.

The silence grew around them, the loudest noise coming from the crickets in the nearby bushes. It was a comfortable silence. After the loudness of the Sheriff's Department, the quietness was a welcome change of pace, and neither one seemed eager to break it. Without being aware of it Elizabeth shifted a little closer to him, until her left side was pressed against him.

Jason was very aware of it, but was careful not to react. He kept his focus firmly on the cannery across the street, even while Elizabeth settled herself more comfortably against him. She stretched her legs out, and the movement caught his attention. He had never realized how long her legs really were. She was so small, it seemed strange to him, but he wasn't complaining.

"I suppose you want to know what happened?" Elizabeth broke the silence after another couple of minutes.

"Only if you want to tell me."

"Okay," Elizabeth responded and began to count in her head.

Jason waited for her to speak, but she was silent. Unconsciously drumming his fingers on his knee he continued to wait. He wasn't the type to question people, if Elizabeth didn't want to tell him what happened, he didn't really have a right to demand to know what had happened. He'd just have to hope she would change her mind, or forget about it entirely. The drumming on his knee grew faster.

"So what happened?" Jason blurted out suddenly.

Elizabeth smothered a smile 236. He'd held on longer then she'd thought he would. "It was just your typical date from hell."

"Elizabeth."

She'd already gone through the story once with Alexis, so telling it again should be no problem. Except it was a problem. Jason was not Alexis, and although Alexis had been amused, she had also been professional. Jason on the other hand liked to tease her, she hated to give him this sort of ammunition.

"You don't have to tell me."

The unexpected out was very tempting, but she decided to go ahead. "It started simply enough, Lee, one of the waitresses at Kelly's, set me up with Bounce. He seemed nice and we hit it off to an extent. In fact everything was going fine at dinner until I remembered the deal I made with Emily. After that, things went downhill fast."

Having a feeling that this was going to be yet another rambling story, Jason barely resisted the impulse to groan. Unsure of what was going to come, but willing to give it a try, he went ahead. "What deal with Emily?"

"A few years ago we made a pact. If we went out with a new guy, we weren't really sure of we would do the switch."

Sometimes he hated to be right. "What switch?"

"You know switch your drink with his, just in case he spiked it," Elizabeth explained. "I really didn't suspect anything, I just remembered the deal Em and I made, so I switched coffee's with him when he wasn't looking. It's really a smart thing to do if you think about it. You never really know what kind of guy your with at times, especially when it comes to a blind date," sighing heavily she went on with her story. "And I have no desire of being drugged again. One night of lost memories is enough for me so…"

"Wait a minute. You were drugged." Jason interrupted sharply. 

"You mean you didn't know?" Surprised she met his eyes, seeing the cold expression of anger on his face she realized she had unwittingly let out a can of worms. "No biggie, moving on…"

"Backing up," Jason countered. "When were you drugged? Who did it? Why? And did anything happen?"

For a minute Elizabeth could only stare at him in shock. "J-jason," she finally sputtered out.

"Answer me."

"You just asked me more questions in the last minute then you did the entire first four months we knew each other." She shook her head in surprise. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Don't change the subject and answer the questions."

Normally she would chafe under such an order. Normally Jason wouldn't give her an order, but she decided to let both slide. He'd done a lot for her already tonight, so she'd chalk his behavior up to tiredness, at least for now.

"Elizabeth?"

"It was during that whole mess with the dead cop. I went to a rave, I drank something, and it was spiked," seeing his expression she hurried on. "I knew it was more then likely spiked when I drank, yet I did it anyway. We needed information, and I knew I wasn't alone."

Jason rubbed a hand over his eyes, then down his cheek, trying to hold back his anger. The thought of what could have happened to her in her misguided quest to help Emily, was enough to make him snap. But since this had happened almost three years ago, he really couldn't get mad.

"Nothing happened to me. Lucky got me away from Zander, and apparently we talked. I don't know, I've never remembered anything that happened that night after a certain point."

"Zander drugged you."

Shit. She'd really opened a can of worms now. The only plus side as she saw it was the fact that Emily was no longer dating Zander. "Yes."

"Why the hell didn't anybody tell me that?" Jason demanded.

"Probably because Emily didn't want you to kill her boyfriend," she shot back. "Or maybe because of the way you're reacting now. This was years ago Jason."

"Why did he drug you?"

"Because…" she hesitated. "Because," frowning she stopped again. "You know I don't think I know why."

"Elizabeth…"

"Really Jason," Elizabeth cut off his complaint. "I've had maybe three one-on-one conversations with the guy since I met him. All the other times there were other people around. He's never mentioned it, and neither have I," crossing her arms over the glossy heart on her chest she considered that. "You know I'm going to have to ask him why he drugged me sometime. It's not like something I'll ever forget, unlike the selective memory of the rest of that night. In fact it's kind of creepy if you think about it."

Jason couldn't help it, he had to laugh. Elizabeth had managed to confuse him, and diffuse his anger yet again. No other person he'd ever met had been able to do both those things at the same time. After a moment of surprise, Elizabeth's laughter joined his.

"So you switched coffee's with the guy," Jason said after another minute. "What happened then?"

"Nothing at first, I almost forgot about it, until he started to pass out, even though he was driving the car at the time. He'd only had one beer with dinner, so I knew he wasn't drunk, but there he was almost nodding off at the wheel. I got him to pull over in front of this dive over on Front Street. I thought he was sick, then I saw his eyes, he was drugged. My coffee was spiked, the little pervert," she muttered under her breath.

Bounce. He was going to have to get the name of this Bounce and they were going to have to have a chat.

"I got angry," Elizabeth went on oblivious to the clenched fists of her companion. "I slapped him and tried to get out the car. He tried to stop me, and that was kind of pathetic, he was so clumsy, and I was so angry. I opened the door, right when he managed to grab my blouse. The next thing I knew I'm standing on the street, in my bra, he's got my shirt in his hand, and he's sprawled half in and half out of the car."

A nice long talk with Bounce.

"Well I kind of lost it and slammed the door on him," Elizabeth admitted reluctantly, trying to hide the smirk at the memory of his yelp when the door had hit him. "I ignored him and the only place open was that dive Oasis. I didn't even think twice, I just walked inside looking for a phone."

"Isn't the Oasis a strip bar?" Jason asked.

"I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that you know that Jason," Elizabeth responded studying him closely. "But you're right it is a strip club. I didn't know it then, but the blonde with the fake extensions, and fake boobs shimmying on a pole, was a huge tip off."

Jason smiled wryly. "I could see that."

"You better not," Elizabeth muttered.

"What?"

"Uh…" she colored slightly. "Where was I?"

"Strip club," Jason answered with a smirk. He didn't think she would repeat that. It didn't matter because he'd heard it anyway.

"I told you once that you didn't want to see me when I'm angry, well tonight would have been a good illustration of that. I didn't even notice the other people, I just made a beeline for the phone in the back. My mission was to call Lee and rip her head off, but Bounce had other ideas. He comes stumbling in after me, yelling that I was supposed to sleep with him anyway so what was the problem?" Elizabeth was starting to get angry all over again. "I swear I almost hit him, even though I said I would never fight without you there."

"We started to attract a lot of attention, then the next thing I knew the blonde on stage screamed and ran off the stage, knocking me into Bounce. Then the cops were there, yelling that this was a raid." She shook her head it was still confusing to her. Everything seemed to happen all at once. "Bounce had a hold of me, and I jerked free and swung at him, he staggered or passed out again, and I ended up hitting the Deputy behind him. He had to have been off balanced Jason. It's the only explanation."

Rubbing at his temples, he went ahead and asked the question. "Explanation for what?"

"Why the Deputy fell backwards and crashed into the jukebox breaking the window," she explained hesitantly. "I mean look at my knuckles," she shoved her hand at him until he took it in his. "After our little training session, my knuckles were red for days, but they're not red. And I haven't been practicing, it's not like I'm used to punching someone, I've gotten some slapping practice in recently but not punching."

Jason frowned down at the small hand he held in his. She was right, the hand was pale and soft, the skin unbroken, unmarred … perfect. "Weren't you arrested for solicitation not assault?"

"Exactly," she grinned at him. "I think the Deputy was embarrassed that I cold-cocked him. So, in order to save face I was arrested for solicitation, along with the other strippers. Another reason I think that's what really happened is the fact the rest of the strippers were released within an hour or two, all charges dropped, yet I was still sitting there, when you came in," pausing she focused on him again. "Why were you at the Sheriff's station anyway? Normally it's the PCPD that annoy you not the Sheriff."

"I needed some information," Jason explained shortly.

Nodding Elizabeth immediately let it drop. "Alexis agreed with me, I don't know what she threatened the Sheriff with, but here I am," she went to gesture and only then realized that Jason still held her hand, "free and clear," she went on but left her hand where it was.

"What is Bounce's name?" Jason asked.

"I forgot," Aware of Jason's intentions to her lamentable date Elizabeth reluctantly let go of his hand, got to her feet and stretched widely. "I'm kind of hungry are you?" she shifted mid-stretch to look at him.

Jason's focus fell on her toned, and exposed stomach, then moved up slightly at the now taut heart spread across her chest, before moving up to her face, and her mouth that was opened wide in a yawn. Acting on instinct he surged to his feet, catching her by surprise, both by the swiftness of his move and his nearness. She instinctively stepped back, and his hand snaked around her waist pulling her to his chest, so she didn't fall down the stairs.

"Thanks," she said a little breathlessly. "I mean for everything tonight. I was sitting in that station trying to figure out who I could call for help. And even though I wasn't going to do it, you were the first person I thought of."

"You can call me no matter what Elizabeth, I hope you know that," Jason lowered his voice and with his free hand he brushed a stray strand of hair from her cheek. "You can call me for any reason and I'll be there for you," he smiled slightly. "I might be a little late at times, but I'll be there if I can."

"I think I'm beginning to realize that," Elizabeth whispered, "and it's not as scary as I once thought." Coming to her toes she angled her head up, closer to him, her mouth looking for his.

Jason obligingly brought his head down and met her mouth. It felt like forever since he had kissed her, in reality it had only been days. But even days were too long. Their lips met and they poured into each other. The heat from his body grew, almost burning her, but she didn't care, she only opened her mouth under his and rode the pleasure. This was different than their other kisses. Those had been born out of desperation. Desperation that had quickly turned into desire. This kiss was pure and potent, full of possibilities like any first kiss should be.

"Still plying your trade eh Princess?"

Too tired to be angry Elizabeth merely broke the kiss and buried her head in Jason's chest.

"She's not a hooker," Jason snapped shooting a glare at the female Deputy.

"Whatever she is, get her off the steps," the Deputy shot back. "Now."

"Jason she's not worth it," Elizabeth slipped free and took his hand. With a slight tug she got him in motion and led the way to his bike. "You never answered me, are you hungry?"

"I could eat," Jason held out his helmet to her.

"Finally," she grinned and pulled it on her head quickly, before he could change his mind. "Do you realize this is the first time I've ridden on this bike since you left last year?"

"And yet you managed to live this long." Jason climbed on the bike before offering her a hand to help her. It was a little slower then usual, because of the tightness and shortness of the miniskirt she was wearing. There were those legs again.

"It wasn't easy," Elizabeth replied with a grin.

Starting the engine he waited for her to settle before shifting slightly so he could look at her. "So are you all done with Bounce's?"

"I don't think I need another one," Elizabeth slipped her arms around his waist. "I think I'm ready for the next step."

Jason's grin was quick and lethal. "Good." Turning around he put the bike in motion.

****

~Kelly's~

"So how did the date go last night?" Lee asked Elizabeth during the first break in the breakfast rush. 

Elizabeth looked towards the door when she heard the bell, and smiled widely when Jason walked through the doors. His eyes sought her out, and her smile grew when he smiled at her before moving to a table in her section.

"Elizabeth did the Bounce date work like you hoped it would?" Lee pressed.

Picking up a coffeepot she headed for his table. "It worked perfectly."


End file.
